The Russo-Japanese War brought
recognition to Japan as a major world power. Russia's defeat in the war
increased the Russian public's dissatisfaction with the Tsarist government of
which led to massive social upheavals in 1905. The Russo-Japanese War began on
February 8, 1904 when Japan attacked Port Arthur in Manchuria. It ended on
September 5, 1905 with the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth.

The principal causes of the war were the conflicting ambitions of Japan and
Russia in the area, primarily over the issue of increasing Russian acquisitions
of commercial and military positions in Manchuria, and the desire of the
Japanese to effectively control Korean trade and industry. Also of prime
importance to the Japanese was the maintenance of effective control over the
waters between Japan and Korea as Japan viewed Korea as being in her
"backyard". Throughout the late 1800's Russia had been expanding it's
holdings in Manchuria and it's interests all over East Asia generally. The
Trans-Siberian Railway connecting Moscow and the farthest eastern port in
Russia, Vladivostok, was begun in 1891. In 1896, a treaty between Russia and
China enabled Russia to proceed to completion of the Chinese Eastern Railway
across Manchuria, thus giving Russia partial control of that province. In 1898,
Russia leased the Liaotung Peninsula from China and there built the naval base
of Port Arthur and the commercial port of Dalny, while simultaneously expanding
its influence in Korea. A further opportunity for expansion and solidification
of Russian power in Manchuria came with the Chinese Boxer Rebellion of
1900-1901.

Japan, which also wanted to extend its power and influence over the area at
the expense of China, as well as ensure the security of its commercial and
military access to the Korean Peninsula through control of the contiguous
waters, felt seriously threatened by these Russian moves.

The Sino-Japanese War of 1894 was fought, from the Japanese standpoint, to
preserve the integrity of Korea from Chinese penetration. The treaty of
Shimonoseki terminated the war in the Japanese favor and affirmed the
independence of Korea, along with awarding Japan the year-round ice-free port of
Port Arthur with the whole Liaotung Peninsula, which effectively gave her
control of the Yellow Sea almost to the same degree that she controlled the Sea
of Japan. However, subsequent pressure from France, Germany and Russia forced
Japan to relinquish these gains back to China. These three countries had
aspirations in that area and Japan was not yet strong enough to maintain her new
"continental" position. Japan retained only Formosa and the Pescadores
Islands, which extended her strategic archipelago southward, and she now saw
that Korea was in danger of absorption by Russia as that country steadily
increased its influence in Korean politics. Japan used the war indemnity paid
her by China (financing arranged by Russia!) to build a new navy, initially six
first-class battleships and six armored cruisers, to be delivered within seven
years. In addition to her old naval bases at Kure, Yokosuka and Sasebo she
established and improved torpedo bases at Makung in the Pescadores, at Ominato
in the Tsugaru Strait and at Takeshiki on the island of Tsushima, and created a
new fleet base at Maizuru in Wakasa Bay on the western coast of the main island.
In February, 1896, Japan's heavy-handed efforts to influence the Korean court
resulted in the Korean king fleeing to the Russians for protection. Deep, mutual
suspicion prevailed as Japan and Russia began negotiations, with Japan primarily
concerned with defending the Korean Straits while Russia was in reality focused
on defending her Trans-Asiatic Railway.

Due to the tremendous distances involved in the projected northern route of
the Trans-Asiatic Railway, with the terminus in the non-ice-free port of
Vladivostok, Russia demanded (in return for financing China's war indemnity)
that China permit the railway to run through northern Manchuria with terminus in
the ice-free port of Port Arthur. With the Japanese armies of occupation still
in Korea and southern Manchuria, Japan could conceivably threaten the poorly
situated, strategically and geographically speaking, port of Vladivostok. Russia
demanded the retrocession of the Liaotung Peninsula from Japan, with the idea of
establishing a naval base at Port Arthur. A Russian squadron anchored at Port
Arthur on Dec 15th, 1897. In March, 1898, China leased the Kuan-Tung Peninsula,
including Port Arthur and Talien-Wan, to Russia for 25 years. The lease included
the right to connect them with the Eastern Chinese Railway by a line through
southern Manchuria. Japan, for it's part, already owned the Korean railroads and
had sent thousands of Japanese settlers to Korea. In the immediate years leading
up to 1902, when the Japanese made an alliance with Britain, Russian and
Japanese diplomats made a series of agreements about Korea and Manchuria. But
the Russians broke the agreements, and coupled with the rapid build-up of the
Japanese fleet, preparations for war entered high gear, at least insofar as the
Japanese were concerned.

One interesting aspect of the Russo-Japanese War was the political and
economic influence of the so-called "neutrals", England, Germany,
France, China, Korea and the United States being the principals in this regard.
The neutral ports (many technically neutral) of Chemulpo, Shanghai, Chifu,
Tsingtao, Saigon, and others were involved in diplomatic intricacies, problems
of treatment of neutral shipping, sea chases, refuge and internment, even
blockade (Shanghai). Many of the major neutral countries had substantial naval
presence in the area, not only afloat but in terms of access to port and repair
facilities such as those at Tsingtao, Kiao-Chau (Germany) Port Adams (Russia)
Kwangchauwan (France) Weihaiwei, Shanghai and Hong Kong (British). Foreign
embassies, settlements, concessions and private dock facilities in Tientsin,
Chefoo and Shanghai provided bases of operation, refuge, diplomacy, and trade
for the major powers. Although the Russo-Japanese War was essentially a local
conflict, it had far reaching international consequence, particularly within the
areas of naval and maritime affairs and international diplomacy.

The Russo-Japanese war was the biggest, most spectacular war the world had
ever witnessed. The land battles, in terms of numbers engaged, dwarfed
Gettysburg, Borodino and Waterloo. Siege and trench warfare in the muddy
Manchurian terrain featured massive artillery barrages, dugouts, extensive
undermining and excavation networks and massed "human wave" attacks
against heavily defended positions. Breech-loading rifles, machine guns and
quick-firing artillery pieces meant heavy losses to both combatants. Logistics
factors and lines of communication were often critically threatened and
difficult or impossible to maintain. Forced marches and large scale unit
maneuvers over difficult terrain and great distances, often carried out in the
severe Manchurian winter, were characteristic of the land actions.

At sea, armored battleships of the pre-dreadnought era equipped with twelve
inch guns and the most modern optical sighting systems met for the first time in
battle on relatively equal terms. The tactics of battleship, destroyer and
torpedo boat warfare were defined and perfected in an extensive and complex
naval warfare scenario acted out under difficult and challenging navigational
situations featuring inadequate navigational aids, swift and dangerous currents
and rock strewn coasts and shoal waters, all against the background of the
characteristic fogs, rain, high winds and rapidly changing weather conditions of
those latitudes, thirty-five years before the development of radar and six years
before the first afloat test of the marine gyro compass.

The extensive, lengthy, and costly blockade of Port Arthur by the Japanese
and the great battles of the Yellow Sea and Tsushima Straits were landmark
engagements in the history of naval warfare, set against a complex backdrop of a
naval compaign which featured hundreds of minor engagements, operations, and
incidents, and saw the most sophisticated and effective use of the torpedo and
contact mine up to that time.

On the diplomatic front, each new victory and defeat reverberated throughout
the capitals of the world. The outcome of the Russo-Japanese War signaled a
major shift in the balance of power, not only between the Asian nations
themselves but also between Asia and the western nations, as well. For Russia,
perhaps the ultimate consequence of defeat was the Russian Revolution, while for
Japan victory meant a firm footing in a new era of expanding national influence
and technological development.